Between Israel and Iran: Security, Strategy, and the Future of the Middle East

On October 14, 2026, the Clements Center for National Security and the Texas Holocaust, Genocide, and Antisemitism Advisory Commission will host “Between Israel and Iran: Security, Strategy, and the Future of the Middle East.” Join us from 11:00 am – 2:00 pm in the Etter-Harbin Alumni Center. Additional sponsors include The Strauss Center for International Security and Law, the Clements-Strauss Intelligence Studies Project, and the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs.  

The event will feature a keynote conversation “Israel, Antisemitism, and the Struggle for the Middle East” with Ambassador Michael Oren, Former Israeli Ambassador to the United States, and Clements Center Executive Director Paul Edgar. This will be followed by a panel discussion on “A New Era in the Middle East: Breakthrough or Déjà Vu?” with Cole Bunzel, Clements Center Assistant Professor; Matthew Fuhrmann, Dean Rusk Chair in the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs; Dave Marlowe, Clements Center Professor of Practice; and Simone Ledeen, Managing Director of Maven Defense Solutions and Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Middle East Policy; moderated by Adam I. Klein, Director, Strauss Center for International Security and Law.

Registration is required. Garage parking is available for a fee at the Manor Garage, the Brazos Garage, and the San Jacinto Garage. Parking will not be validated.

Agenda

10:15 am   ·   Registration Opens

11:00 am   ·   Welcome Remarks

11:05 am – 12:15 pm   ·   Keynote: “Israel, Antisemitism, and the Struggle for the Middle East”

Ambassador Michael Oren, Former Israeli Ambassador to the United States, and Paul Edgar, Executive Director of the Clements Center for National Security

12:15 – 12:45 pm   ·   Lunch

Complimentary lunch available

12:45 – 2:00 pm   ·   Panel: “A New Era in the Middle East: Breakthrough or Déjà Vu?”

• Cole Bunzel, Clements Center Assistant Professor
• Matthew Fuhrmann, Dean Rusk Chair in the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs
• Dave Marlowe, Clements Center Professor of Practice
• Simone Ledeen, Managing Director, Maven Defense Solutions and Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Middle East Policy
• Moderator: Adam I. Klein, Director, Strauss Center for International Security and Law

2:00 pm   ·   Event Adjourns

Enhanced Security Measures

Enhanced security measures will be in place for this event. All attendees should plan for additional screening and allow extra time for entry.

Upon arrival, attendees will be required to:

• Present a valid photo ID at the door. Attendees registered as students will be required to present their UT ID.
• Pass through metal detectors and undergo a bag check.
• Present an ID that matches the name on the event registration list. Admission will not be permitted if the name on the registration list does not match the attendee’s ID.

Registration does not guarantee entry. All attendees are subject to security screening and event capacity limitations. These measures are in place to help ensure a safe and orderly environment for all attendees. We appreciate your cooperation and ask that you arrive early to allow sufficient time for screening.

Keynote Address: Speaker Biographies

Ambassador Michael Oren

Ambassador Michael Oren, Former Israeli Ambassador to the United States, is an American-born Israeli historian, soldier, and bestselling author who served as Israel’s Ambassador to the United States from 2009 to 2013 and later as a Member of the Knesset and Deputy Minister of Diplomacy in the Prime Minister’s Office. Throughout his illustrious career as a Middle East scholar, Oren has been a fellow at the Atlantic Council and the Wilson Center and a visiting professor at Harvard, Yale, and Georgetown. His books include Six Days of War, Power, Faith, Fantasy: America in the Middle East from 1776 to the Present, and Ally: My Journey Across the American-Israeli Divide, and his latest writing can be found on his Substack, Clarity.

Paul Edgar

Paul Edgar was appointed the Executive Director of the William P. Clements, Jr. Center for National Security at the University of Texas-Austin in May 2026. He holds a PhD in Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures from the University of Texas and studies the historical origins of diplomacy, war, and strategy in pre-classical antiquity. He is also a philologist of several ancient languages. As a graduate student, he was a fellow in the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation’s Engaged Scholar Program and also with the Clements Center. Prior to beginning work on his PhD, Paul had been an Olmsted Foundation Scholar at Tel Aviv University where he studied for his master’s degree, focusing on early Israelite and Jewish literature from the Iron Age through the Crusades. Previously, Paul earned his Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry from Saint Mary’s University. His public writing has appeared in Foreign Policy, Task & Purpose, and Capital Commentary. He is currently writing an international diplomatic history of the Late Bronze Age. Before entering academia, Paul served more than 22 years as an infantry officer in the U.S. Army, mostly in conventional airborne and special operations assignments.

Panel: Speaker Biographies

Cole Bunzel

Cole Bunzel is an Assistant Professor at the Clements Center for National Security at The University of Texas at Austin, as well as a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. A historian of the contemporary Middle East, he specializes in the history of Saudi Arabia, Islamic theology and law, and modern Islamic radicalism. He is the author of Wahhābism: The History of a Militant Islamic Movement (Princeton University Press, 2023) and has written widely on Middle Eastern politics and Islamism, including for Foreign Affairs and Foreign Policy. His research spans the religious thought of Ibn Taymiyya and his followers in the fourteenth century to present-day Salafism/Wahhabism and the political dynamics of the Arab Gulf states.

Matthew Fuhrmann

Matthew Fuhrmann is the Dean Rusk Chair in the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin. He is also the Director of the Nuclear Policy Program, a joint initiative of the Clements Center for National Security and the Strauss Center for International Security and Law. His research and teaching focus on international security issues with an emphasis on nuclear weapons, diplomacy and bargaining, and alliance politics. He is the author of three books, including Influence Without Arms: The New Logic of Nuclear Deterrence (Cambridge University Press, 2024) and Nuclear Weapons and Coercive Diplomacy (Cambridge University Press, 2017, with Todd S. Sechser). His articles are published in journals such as ​American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Politics, British Journal of Political Science, International Organization, International Security, and International Studies Quarterly. His research has been mentioned in media outlets such as The Atlantic, CNN, The New York Times, The New Yorker, and NPR. He was named an Andrew Carnegie Fellow in 2016 by the Carnegie Corporation of New York. ​

Dave Marlowe

Dave Marlowe culminated his more than 30 years at the Central Intelligence Agency as Deputy Director for Operations. Prior to that, he served as Assistant Director for the Near East and several times as Chief of Station, including in the war zone. Mr. Marlowe is a graduate of William and Mary and a former enlisted soldier.

Simone Ledeen

Simone Ledeen is a leader in defense policy and national security, with extensive expertise in intelligence, counterterrorism, and emerging technology. As Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East, she oversaw U.S. defense policy across 15 countries from Israel and the Gulf states to Iraq, Syria, and Yemen after serving as Principal Director for Special Operations and Combating Terrorism. Her private sector work included a key role at Standard Chartered Bank, launching a comprehensive financial crime compliance program covering Africa and the Middle East. She continues to shape national security through advisory and consulting roles and defense technology investment.

Adam I. Klein

Adam Klein is Director of the Robert Strauss Center for International Security and Law at the University of Texas at Austin. He also holds a faculty appointment at the University of Texas School of Law, where he teaches courses on counterterrorism, foreign relations, intelligence, government surveillance, and AI, and chairs the university’s Advisory Committee on Classified Research. Before joining the Strauss Center, Adam served as Chairman of the United States Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, the independent, bipartisan federal agency responsible for overseeing counterterrorism programs at the NSA, FBI, CIA, Department of Homeland Security, and other federal agencies. As the Board’s Senate-confirmed Chairman, he oversaw its oversight and advice engagements with other federal agencies, while also serving as the Board’s chief executive officer.

Before entering government, Adam was the Robert M. Gates Senior Fellow at the Center for a New American Security, a bipartisan national-security research institution in Washington, DC. There, his research focused on government surveillance, intelligence powers, and national security law. Previously, Adam practiced law in Washington, DC, and served as a law clerk to Justice Antonin Scalia of the U.S. Supreme Court and Judge Brett Kavanaugh of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. He has also worked on national-security policy at the RAND Corporation, the 9/11 Public Discourse Project (the non-profit successor to the 9/11 Commission), and in the U.S. Congress. He received his BA from Northwestern University and his JD from Columbia Law School.